WebQuest: How Influential is Your Member of Congress?

Subject: U.S. Government, Social Studies
Grade Level: 9-12

Introduction for Teachers

This WebQuest was developed by The Dirksen Congressional Center to introduce students to the concept of "influence" or "power" in Congress. What experiences or responsibilities distinguish more influential Congress members from less?

The lesson asks students, as teams, to take on the role of investigative reporters to identify and research their U.S. Representative or one of their two U.S. Senators. The lesson also suggests a set of factors (the Congressional Power Index) that helps determine what makes someone influential in Congress and invites students to measure their Congress members against those factors and to develop more factors.

For information about WebQuests, visit http://webquest.sdsu.edu/materials.htm.

The Task for Learners

Congratulations! You and your partners have been selected to write a feature article for your local newspaper about either your Congressman and one of your two U.S. Senators. Your editor wants to know how much power they have in Congress. Their influence will help determine their role in making policy and in bringing federal money to your state and district.

You have the following tasks ahead of you:

Finding out who your Congressman and U.S. Senators are
Identifying high-quality Internet sites with information about them
Researching their biographies
Discovering what responsibilities they have in Congress
Refining a model to evaluate a Congress member's power

The Process

1. Arrange for you and your partners on the reporting team to have Internet access. Visit CongressLink (http://www.congresslink.org) and find “Today’s Congress.”

2. Using links at “Today’s Congress,” find out who your Congressman and two U.S. Senators are. Write down their contact information. Visit their Web sites.

3. Select one for the rest of this assignment and write a story for your newspaper introducing her or him to your readers.

4. Using the table below, which lists some of the factors that determine who is influential in Congress, compile that information from Web sites for the Congress member you selected.

5. Write an editorial for your newspaper evaluating how influential the member of Congress you selected is.

6. Prepare a list of useful Web sites to share with your class.

7. As a team, decide if there are other factors besides those listed in the table below that help determine a Congress member's influence. OPTIONAL: E-mail these ideas to the author of this WebQuest at fmackaman@dirksencenter.org

The Resources

CongressLink (http://www.congresslink.org). CongressLink has the Congressional Information Center which provides links to every Congress member's office and Web site, information about leaders in Congress, and committee assignments and charters.

AboutGovernment (http://www.aboutgovernment.org). This site provides links to more than 250 Web sites about the federal government, including a great manyabout the U.S. Congress. Teachers may want to limit the number or pre-select the most useful ones.

Federal Election Commission (http://www.fec.gov/) where you can search for the status of a Congress member's campaign fund.

Barone, Michael and Richard E. Cohen, The Almanac of American Politics 2002 (Washington, DC: National Journal, 2001)

Hawkings, David and Nutting, Brian, eds., CQ's Politics in American 2004: The 108th Congress (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 2003). This reference is the best place to obtain presidential and party support scores. Unfortunately, there are apparently no Web-based resources for this information that do not require a paid subscription.

NOTE: The table, "The Congressional Power Index," follows.

The Congressional Power Index

HOW TO USE THIS TABLE: To get a rough approximation of a Congress member's influence, use the table below to compile a rating. The higher the number, the more influential the member. You may not be able to determine the measurement factor in all cases, but the index can be useful even if only partially completed.

FACTOR	INDEX
1. Is of the majority party in the chamber. If "yes," rates a 3. If member is of the minority party, rates a -3. If Independent, score a 0.	-3 0 3
2. Holds formal elected party leadership post in the House or Senate. Speaker of the House and Majority Leader of the Senate = 5 Minority Leader, Assistant Majority Leader = 4 Majority Whip, Assistant Minority Leader, Minorty Whip = 3 Assistant Whips, Republican or Democratic Conference Chair = 2 Rep./Dem. Conference Secretary, Rep/Dem Policy Chair = 1	0 1 2 3 4 5
3. Chairs (or is ranking member of) a "money" committee. Committee chair rates a 5, ranking member a 3. House "money" committees: Appropriations, Budget, and Ways and Means Senate "money" committees: Appropriations and Finance	0 3 5
4. Chairs (or is ranking member of) another committee. Chair rates a 4, ranking member a 2.	0 2 4
5. Chairs (or is ranking member) a subcommittee. Chair rates a 3, ranking member a 1.	0 1 3
6. Is a member of one of the following committees (rates a 3 for each) House: Appropriations, Armed Services, Energy and Commerce, Rules, or Ways and Means Senate: Appropriations, Armed Services, Budget, Finance, Judiciary	0 3
7. Seniority. 0-2 terms rates a 0, then in two-term increments up the scale, that is 4 terms rates a 1, six terms rates a 2, etc.	0 1 2 3 4 5
8. Margin of victory in last election. Greater than 60 percent is highest rank at 3 59-60 rates a 2 56-58 rates a 1 53-55 rates a 0 50-52 rates a -1 less than 50 percent rates a -2	-2 -1 0 1 2 3
9. Amount of campaign funds on hand. Amounts depend on individual situation, such as competitiveness of the district. Lacking such information, less than $100,000 = -5 $100,000 - $199,999 = -4 $200,000 - $299,999 rates -3 $300,00 - $399,999 rates -2 $400,000 - $499,999 rates -1 $500,000 - $599,999 rates 0 $600,000 - $699,999 rates 1 $700,000 - $799,999 rates 2 $800,000 - $899,999 rates 3 $900,000 - $999,999 rates 4 $1,000,000 and over rates 5	-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
10. Exposure in national press. Washington Post Onlines Search for one week (1 point for every 4 hits with 5 points the maximum) or New York Times Online Search for one month (1 point for every 4 hits with 5 points the maximum) or CNN.com search (cnn.com only) (1 point for every 30 hits with 5 points the maximum).	0 1 2 3 4 5
11. Party Support (Voting Record) OPTIONAL: It may not be possible to locate this information online. Congressional Quarterly, a subscription service, publishes such information periodically. If this member voted with her/his political party 95% of the time or more = 5 90-94 = 4 85-89 = 3 80-84 = 2 75-79 = 1 70-74 = 0 65-69 = -1 60-64 = -2 55-59 = -3 50-54 = -4 49% and below = -5	-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
12. Support of the President OPTIONAL: It may not be possible to locate this information online. Congressional Quarterly, a subscription service, publishes such information periodically. If this member is of the SAME party as the President and voted with the President's position 95% of the time or more = 5 90-94 = 4 85-89 = 3 80-84 = 2 75-79 = 1 70-74 = 0 65-69 = -1 60-64 = -2 55-59 = -3 50-54 = -4 49% and below = -5 IF this member is of the OPPOSITE party, reverse the scoring	-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5

Extra Credit

1. How might you measure the quality of a Congress member's constitutent service? Does high quality service give a member more power or influence?
2. What other ways exist to measure a member's influence on legislation, in addition to committee service and leadership position?

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